The dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is here. 
Africa is standing before a small window of opportunity to grow future-ready leaders equipped to take on a new era of industry. It will be our ability to come together and develop those leaders that will determine whether we fly or fall. 
The tough reality is that radical disruption to skills requirements in the workplace is headed our way as we edge towards the next Industrial Revolution.
Research presented at the World Economic Forum on Africa shows that in South Africa alone, 39% of the core skills required across industries will be completely different in three years’ time. 
Yet, the Forum also brought forward concerning statistics which paint a picture of a continent that is struggling to develop skills for today, never mind tomorrow.
Indeed, WEF’s Human Capital Index reveals that sub-Saharan Africa currently captures just 55% of its human capital potential, when compared with the global average of 65%. 
On the one hand, employers say an under-skilled workforce is holding their businesses back – as many as 41% of all firms in Tanzania and 30% in Kenya. But on the other hand, just 50% of Africa’s school-age children are enrolled in secondary school, and a startlingly low 7% in tertiary education. 
The gap between skills required and administered is greater in Africa than in any other region in the world. 
Radical intervention is needed.
It’s simple, if we fail to adequately upskill our youth, we will be guilty of throwing away the future of an entire continent.
By ‘we’ I don’t just mean the government or education providers, but you and I, the people and private entities who wake up each morning on this vibrant continent we call home. 
The opportunity
The good news is that every challenge also presents an opportunity. While the next Industrial Revolution brings a massive wave of disruption, it also brings the promise of completely new job descriptions which will call on dynamic and exciting skills sets.
According to findings from WEF, our continent will need young individuals who can combine digital and stem skills with more traditional skill sets. Africa is going to need significant numbers of digital-mechanical engineers and business operations data analysts, to name a few. 
How do we get there?
The million dollar question is: how do we grasp hold of this golden opportunity to see our continent transition into a new industrial era? I believe the answer lies in the stories that belong to remarkable young individuals like Ken Gitonga. 
Ken is the administrator of the Samsung Engineering Academy in Nairobi. The Academy, which was launched in Nairobi in 2014, revolutionises traditional education by providing technical and vocational training for school learners, tertiary students and employed youth. 
As will become evident from Ken’s story, the strength of the Academy lies in its ability to provide talented individuals like Ken, not only with the skills they need to succeed, but also to invest back into their communities.
Ken has been making things from as young as six years old, when he built himself a toy car out of wire and wood. He would use sticks, wires and just about any empty household item he could find, to create his own ‘gadgets’. As he didn’t have a lot of money growing up, these gadgets were his toys. 
When he was given the opportunity to develop his considerable skills at the Academy, he was able to use his talents to help grow the skills of the next generation. 
His analytical mind serves him well in this pursuit. Through his planning and logistical genius, he has created a bespoke work station programme that enables students to effectively learn about a particular electronic device. Every day, Ken prepares the course materials needed by the Academy’s lecturers and helps deliver course content when needed. 
His is just one of the many stories currently unfolding as Samsung continues to drive the development of skills-for-employability amongst the youth in Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria through the Engineering Academy Initiative.
As a continent of individuals and entities, both private and public, we need to come together to push forward initiatives like these so that we can grasp hold of the unique opportunity that stands before us; growing a generation of talented young individuals ready to take the continent forward. 
Together, we can be unstoppable. 
 
*Sthe Shabangu is Lead: Public Relations, Public Affairs and Corporate Citizenship, Samsung Africa Office

Op-ed: Africa’s future hangs in the balance – we dare not fail

Sorry, but somebody had to say it.
“Africa Rising” was a good thing while it lasted. Great slogan. Short and punchy. Five syllables. Great PR value. And the media was using it in nearly every story they wrote about Africa. Actually, they invented it. It was all things Africa. It was inspiring. Unifying. It got people believing again. Finally, there was hope!
But, like everything else in life, what goes up must come down. Even Africa Rising.
Because the good vibes only last so long especially when the results don’t match the hype. And once that happens, people stop believing. You’ve probably noticed that you don’t hear that phrase too often anymore. That’s because today, unfortunately, Africa is no longer rising. It’s falling.
However, one needs to be mindful of painting the entire continent with a single brush. There are 54 separate countries that make up Africa. And of course, some of them are turning out strong growth numbers. Ethiopia is projected to hit 6.7% real GDP growth in 2017. <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/east-africa/2017/05/16/rwanda-growth/">Rwanda is looking at 6.6%</a> and Kenya at 6.0%. Tanzania, 6.9%. And these figures are projected irrespective of the current drought conditions engulfing East Africa.
But still, much of the continent is in trouble. Just look at sub-Saharan Africa’s leading economies as a bellwether. They’re in tatters. South Africa was reduced to junk status by the rating agencies and Nigeria is gasping for air as its economy continues to be smothered under the weight of weak oil prices.
Africa’s slide started with the commodities crash in 2015. Before that countries rode the global demand for natural resources for years. Things were good. Everyone looked the other way. “Nothing to fix if it’s not broken” as they say. Commodities were hot and were the continent’s key economic drivers. But then, prices hit the skids and coupled with underdeveloped and underfunded private sectors, much of Africa was left twisting in the wind.
Ironically, Africa’s greatest strength was also its biggest weakness. Because if you live by commodities alone, you’ll die by them too. All you need is one bad economic cycle and before you know it, you’re down on the canvas, flat on your back, with the referee standing above you counting to ten.
Africa simply couldn’t absorb a punch like that. It was too fragile to begin with. Now, its main source of revenue was flattened. And let’s face it, there has never been much room for error there to begin with. In many ways, Africa is like a person that has no savings. One day, he loses his job. The next day he realises he has no money in the bank and no means to support himself.
Banking and credit in most African countries are also in a tailspin. Nigeria is in yet another full-blown banking crises. Simply stated, banks aren’t lending. The economy is frozen in place and nobody is willing to make a move. Businesses are afraid to spend and hire. There are few dollars to be had and the Naira is limping along. Because of this, many debt and equity investors have pulled out of Nigeria all together, at least until oil makes a comeback. And, irrespective of some positive signs, it could take years for oil to return to its previous levels, assuming it ever does at all. Recovery is a slow process.
South Africa, the continent’s most diversified economy, is also up against the wall. Real GDP growth is projected at a paltry 1.2%. Businesses there are in a holding pattern. And the recent downgrades to its credit rating by <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2017/04/03/south-africa-long-term-foreign-currency-rating-cut-bb-political-institutional-uncertainty-outlook-negative/">Standard &amp; Poor’s</a> and <a href="http://cnbc.africa/trending/sa-downgrade/2017/04/07/fitch-downgrades-sa/">Fitch</a> served as a swift kick in the bum to an otherwise proud country. South Africa has slowed to a crawl as it contends with one political scandal after the other, further eroding confidence in its future. And embattled President, Jacob Zuma, is desperate to hold onto power as he tries to fend off the endless corruption charges and a near complete loss of confidence.
So, Africa is in a full out tizzy. Enter China. But let’s be clear here, China’s aspirations are in China’s self-interest alone. Not Africa’s. They might say otherwise, but make no mistake, it’s Colonisation 2.0. And given the current state of affairs in Africa, when China calls, Africa picks up the phone.
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/east-africa/2017/05/11/china-trade-with-africa/">China pounced on Africa</a> for two primary reasons. First, access to commodities. Raw, out of the ground natural resources, Africa has what China needs to power its economy. And second, China eyed Africa because it was vulnerable. With Africa in a weakened state, China saw the chance to embed itself across the continent. And it’s done just that by spreading investment and manpower to many African governments in return for the keys to the commodities kingdom.
READ: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/2016/06/28/is-america-ready-for-africa/">Africa has huge potential, it&#8217;s a pity too few Americans know this</a>
But this has rarely, if ever, trickled down to the man and woman on the streets of Lagos or Kinshasa. The continent is plagued by the same problems it’s always had. Rampant corruption. Payment default. Contract default. Kidnappings. Political power plays. Currency manipulations. Scandals. Coups. You name it. This scene has repeated itself time and again throughout Africa’s history. And all the private investment capital, global support and financial aid in the world never seems to correct the problem.
So, this is Africa today. I’m really hoping it can make a comeback. It would be great to see it “rise” again. And I think it can if it learns some of the harder lessons from the current downturn. If it doesn’t though, history will continue to repeat itself with every new boom and bust cycle, and prevent Africa from developing much beyond where it is today.
*David S. Levin is a Managing Partner at Nexus Capital Markets, LLC, micro-Blogging on all things Africa. A New York investor’s view of Africa and other emerging economies. Nexus Capital Markets is a leading Pan-African/U.S. investment bank located in NY and JHB.

Op-ed: Africa Falling, a letter from America

For centuries doctors, accountants, lawyers, teachers and architects have solved problems too complex for most of us. But today, the future of these professions are seriously in question as artificial intelligence, non-thinking machines and automated systems are poised to do the jobs of human experts at a fraction of the cost.
Such a prediction triggers one of two responses, says Daniel Susskind, co author of The Future of the Professions. Young professionals are often furious; consumers are quietly optimistic.
READ: 
<h3 class="h5"><a href="http://cnbc.africa/zdnl-mc/2017/05/11/automated-accountant/">The chartered accountant of the future</a></h3>
<h3 class="h5"><a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/special-report/2015/11/06/your-next-co-worker-could-be-a-robot/">Your next co-worker could be a robot </a></h3>
‘For consumers it is very exciting. There will be far more affordable access to expertise that has traditionally been locked up in the heads of the professionals,’ he says. Or put another way: ‘The professions have created a Rolls-Royce service and most people are walking.’
Susskind wrote the book with his father, Richard Susskind, a lawyer. It is based on 100 interviews across eight professions, from law through to accounting, consulting and the clergy.
A barrage of statistics sets the scene. In 2014, 48 million Americans used online tax preparation software rather than traditional tax accountants. The best-known legal firm in the US is no longer a traditional law firm, but rather the legal advice platform legalzoom.com.
One architectural firm recently used flying robots to assemble a building; doctors talk to patients via Skype; even the Catholic Church has an app that tracks sins as it prepares its flock for confession.
TWO FUTURES
So is this the start of a social revolution?
‘We see two futures,’ says Susskind. ‘The first is incremental transformation. This is a more efficient version of what we have today, not a big bang revolution. The second future is long-term. Here, technology actively displaces the work of traditional professions. Over time more of the tasks done by accountants are going to be done either by different types of people or “increasingly capable systems” or machines, or by the two.’
There are two major factors that are shaping this future. First, the failure of ‘the grand bargain’. This is how the professions traditionally provide services to the exclusion of others, instead of as gatekeepers of knowledge.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gLa_KepNXuk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Not only are their processes expensive and antiquated in our Internet-based society, it’s as if there is ‘an intentional obfuscation’ of the work they do, according to Susskind.
Second, to quote Patrick Winston, one of the fathers of artificial intelligence (AI), there are lots of ways of being smart that aren’t smart like us. This idea is central to the book.
OTHER WAYS TO BE SMART
‘We tend to think that the only ways of performing tasks like human beings is to replicate the way human beings perform,’ explains Susskind.
’A professional will say, “What I do in my job is exercise judgement and as a machine can’t think or reason, it can never exercise judgement, so these particular tasks are safe from automation.”’
This is the wrong question, he says. ‘It is not “can a machine ever exercise judgement?” The right question is, “To what problem is judgement the solution? Why do we call upon human experts in this particular case to exercise judgement?” The answer is uncertainty,’ he says.
‘So a better question is, “Can a machine deal with uncertainty better than a human being?” The answer to that is of course they can. What machines are incredibly good at doing is processing far larger volumes of data than human beings and running algorithms and routines through them.’
Famously, the first evidence of this was back in 1997 when IBM’s Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov. The computer was able to calculate up to 330 million moves per second whereas Kasparov – at best – could consider about 100 moves per go. The computer won through brute force processing power. Fourteen years later the supercomputer IBM Watson stunned Jeopardy audiences when it won hands down against two of the American quiz show contestants.
Today’s second wave of AI machines are no longer being built to replicate human reason. It is this that the Susskinds define as the ‘artificial intelligence fallacy’.
In the second wave of AI, many of these systems and machines are outperforming human beings by working in fundamentally different ways, Susskind says.
‘They are not like us. So much time is spent thinking about whether AI systems are conscious or thinking. That is not the most important question from the point of view of the professions.
‘What is most important is to ask if these machines can outperform human beings even if the way they do it looks very different to the way human beings do it? The answer to that is increasingly “yes”.’
In America, Daniel Katz, a law professor, has created a machine that successfully predicts the outcome of US Supreme Court decisions. This system knows nothing about the law, it relies on data from past Supreme Court cases.
’This lesson isn’t just true for judgement but across all faculties of human beings,’ continues Susskind. ‘It’s a mistake when people say a machine can never exercise creativity or empathy.’
FUTURE ROLES FOR ACCOUNTANTS
If you’re seeing visions of Stanley Kubrick’s HAL 9000 or your inner sceptic is doing cartwheels, it’s worth knowing that Richard Susskind has spent the past 40 years writing about how technology is going to affect the legal profession.
http://cnbc.africa/news/2017/04/24/ceos-robots-30-years/
In 1996, when Richard published The Future of Law, predicting that the dominant way lawyers and their clients would communicate would be through email, the Law Society of UK and Wales declared that he shouldn’t be allowed to speak in public and he was bringing the profession into disrepute.
Since then, Susskind senior has written a clutch of heavy-weight legal tomes and when The Future of Professions was published in the UK in October 2015, Acuity heard that lawyers across London rushed out and bought a copy.
‘I heard accountants did the same,’ says his son. ’The accounting profession, probably perhaps more so than the law, has adopted and taken up the book. There’s been a huge amount of interest, both from practitioners and professional associations as they ask themselves what their role might be in the twenty-first century. In particular how associations can help their members understand the changes that are taking place and give strategies to deal with it.’
Disappointingly, it is the medical profession that is ostrich-like. The Susskinds’ joint collaboration brings an inter-generational perspective to their research. To write it, father and son initially holed up in a ‘bunker’ in the city of London, brought in white boards, post-it notes, hundreds of their books, and trays of smoked salmon sandwiches as ‘mind fuel’ to thrash out their argument.
Over the four-year period Susskind junior says: ‘We agreed to argue until we agreed on every point.’
Intriguingly, he describes 2014/15 as a watershed.
‘I think people wouldn’t have been so receptive to the book if it had come out earlier. Something happened during this time – people’s attitudes to technology and what it was capable of doing, companies like IBM working with Watson, Google’s work on AI, other books such as The Rise of the Robots by Martine Ford. All of them said something significant is changing.’
Susskind is both optimistic and pessimistic. In the medium term, the scenario is less about unemployment as about redeployment. The book describes a new class of ‘paraprofessionals’ who will be equipped to undertake routine tasks previously done by senior professionals. It identifies seven models for the production and distribution of practical expertise and 12 new roles, which range from ‘empathisers’ who can provide reassurance and empathy, to data scientists and systems engineers. The longer term, he admits, is more troubling.
‘It’s hard to avoid the judgement that there will be a decline for human professionals. In a world where these systems and machines become more capable the most challenging question will become one of distribution. It will be difficult to live in a society where some very productive people work while less productive people don’t work. The problems will be distributional and political and how we reconcile those things.’
For all of us, some serious food for thought.
*Claire Scobie is an award-winning journalist, author and storytelling consultant for business.
This article was originally published in the December 2016 issue of Acuity and then appeared in <a href="http://www.accountancysa.org.za/wordpress/">Accountancy SA</a>, it is republished with its permission.
&nbsp;

The future of the professions

Research indicates that many functions in the professional services field are likely to be automated in the near future. SAICA researches the future world of work.
To prepare for this disruption and to entrench the viability of the auditing and assurance profession, awareness and preparation are key.
Through my travels and conversations with colleagues, clients and friends I have learnt that there are different interpretations of what exactly data and, more specifically, data analytics is. Do these interpretations really differ?
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gLa_KepNXuk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I have, however, spotted a common understanding: ‘the silver bullet’ reduced staff numbers and improved efficiencies, cost savings, etc. These are all terms that come up when discussing data  analytics; but are these perceptions taking us in the wrong direction in the sense that if it does not happen immediately, we lose faith in the data analytics journey and continue with our traditional way of doing things?
Without getting into the technical detail of data analytics, let us rather consider it a business imperative for our profession. Interestingly, in the auditing and assurance profession, many auditors challenge the use of data analytics and question its necessity, especially if the current traditional audit approach has been, and remains relevant. Imagine if many finance managers would not change their way of doing things – consider how many manual consolidations would still be performed.
So why change? Why fix something that is not broken?
It is safe to say that disruption1 is on the horizon in the auditing and assurance profession. It is about automation; less manual intervention; systems that produce high-quality output enabling real-time decision-making. All of this is necessary to boldly forge ahead into the digital age.
Consider how Uber disrupted the taxi industry, LinkedIn disrupted the recruitment industry, and Facebook and Instagram disrupted social interaction. And we hear it everywhere – ‘businesses must disrupt themselves (before someone else does) to survive’. The fact of the matter is – very few companies have successfully disrupted themselves. Instead, they leverage their existing assets to expand into new, high-growth markets and in doing so, they disrupt someone else. Think about how Google is disrupting the telecommunication industry with Project Loon – providing Internet access to individuals in rural and other remote areas.
READ: 
<h3 class="h5"><a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/financial/2017/05/11/future-professions/">The future of the professions</a></h3>
<h3 class="h5"><a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/special-report/2015/11/06/your-next-co-worker-could-be-a-robot/">Your next co-worker could be a robot</a></h3>
Regardless of whether we could argue that the auditing and assurance profession is protected by our laws and regulations, the reality is: tension remains in the system for better, faster and more efficient audits. Users demand evolution of audit and assurance services and the profession would have to respond in the interest of the continued relevance and value of the external audit. Clients are also realising that auditors have (or should have) access to technology and are moving towards a more automated audit approach – they expect enhanced efficiency as a result:
Businesses are competing in a tight market where innovation is the order of the day. Some businesses are already investing millions in technology such as artificial intelligence. They can now make decisions via virtual and/or augmented reality, not to mention the concept of ‘mixed reality’. So instead of communicating in words, pictures or video clips, virtual reality enables businesses to communicate in a new-age language of ‘seeing is believing’.
This creates pressure for auditors. They are expected to leverage off these technologies by using 100% of the data to perform higher-quality and, of course, more efficient, continuous audits that support real-time business decisions.
As a result of the increased competition among audit and assurance services providers, enhanced risks assessment and risk response capabilities, including the ability to add value by providing greater insights to a clients’ businesses, is becoming a non-negotiable – and using data and analytical techniques and tools to achieve this is key.
High-audit quality is of utmost importance in protecting the public interest and enhancing the credibility of financial reporting thereby contributing to the stability of financial markets. The auditors’ ability to have a 100% view over all the transactions increases the opportunity to identify risks and direct the focus of the audit. Using technology that increases the auditor’s coverage and insight may contribute towards heightened levels of professional scepticism in evaluating trends, anomalies, exceptions, etc, and enhancing audit quality. Automating tasks that have historically been conducted manually enables the auditor to spend more time on understanding the entity’s financial information and reporting, analysing and evaluating results and exercising professional judgement in drawing conclusions in relation to the risks identified.
Finally, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) released a Request for Input (RFI): Exploring the Growing Use of Technology in the Audit, with a Focus on Data Analytics in September 2016. The RFI provides insights into the opportunities and challenges with the use of data analytics in the audit of financial statements, whether all of the considerations relevant to the use of data analytics in an audit have been identified and how best to proceed in relation to standard settings.2 At the comment closing date, the IAASB had received 38 comment letters, with some additional submissions that will be accepted after that date.
For the profession to remain relevant the effect and impact of technology in everything that we do cannot be ignored. Professional accountancy bodies may need to revise the competencies that aspiring professional need to demonstrate as part of the qualification process by creating more analytical thinking and increasing the use of technology during the training programme.
Based on my experience, we as auditors have always analysed data in some way or another in any type of audit. Predictive analytics have been used in auditing for many years. However, the data and information that is now available is yearning for even more robust and meaningful analysis and interpretation, for which auditors do not necessarily always need the most advanced tool available.
Now, let us take that leap forward and disrupt the traditional audit approach to avoid being left behind!
NOTES
1  A general business term to denote instituting challenge (disruption) within a business to break old corporate habits (Simon Waldman, Creative Disruption: What You Need to Do to Shake Up Your Business in a Digital World 2010).
2 <a href="http://www.ifac.org/publications-resources/exploring-growing-use-technology-audit-focus-data-analytics">http://www.ifac.org/publications-resources/exploring-growing-use-technology-audit-focus-data-analytics</a>.
*Amé Rademan CA(SA) is Senior Manager, DPP Audit &amp; Assurance at  KPMG Services (Pty) Ltd
This article first appeared in <a href="http://www.accountancysa.org.za/wordpress/">Accountancy SA</a> and is republished with its permission
http://cnbc.africa/news/technology/2017/04/28/artificial-intelligence-will-replace-half-jobs-next-decade-says-widely-followed-technologist/

The chartered accountant of the future

The mining of social media and the use of big data (vast amounts of available internet data that can be analysed and exploited) by insurers to analyse consumer behaviour will change the face of insurance. The basic principles of insurance include the good faith sharing of information between insurer and insured, a pooling of good risks with bad risks, and assessing a fair premium for policyholders. Paradoxically regulations, that require insurers to price more competitively and estimate their reserves more precisely to see that they are sufficiently capitalised, are leading insurers to find ways to price insured risks more accurately.
It is possible using computer algorithms to tap data from social media posts and other internet sources to evaluate the risks of insuring a particular person. The information that is posted and an individual’s “likes” can help assess personality traits. It is claimed that people who use superlatives like “always” or “never” imply overconfidence and are bad driving risks. What you like and don’t like, how you write and how many exclamation marks you use could be used against you in assessing your motor premium. It is possible by mining big data to find out all sorts of information about what people eat, what they do, how they drive and what they buy from the pharmacy. Devices such as sensors in vehicles and health-monitoring watches and step-counters will reveal data relevant to motor, life and disability risks. What you post about yourself on social media could in future determine what premiums you pay for insurance or whether you can get insurance at all. If you have a genetic test to predict possible future illness, that information should be disclosed to your insurers when you take out a new policy and could be used to discriminate against individuals whether you disclose the information or not. If you don’t disclose the information, your policy could be cancelled from inception because of the failure to make the disclosure. If you do, you may pay higher premiums or struggle to find insurance.
		
				
		
The Equality Act does not label discrimination as unfair if it is based on objectively determinable criteria “intrinsic to the activity concerned”. The question is going to be asked whether discrimination between policyholders on prohibited grounds, such as disability or health status based on the analysis of social media and big data to find out intimate details about each individual, is based on evidence intrinsic to the activity of insurance. Insurers, in terms of their duty of good faith, will have to reveal to a potential insured the basis of any discrimination which could lead to challenges against the use of internet sources under equality legislation. In 2014 insurers in the UK agreed not to take account of predictive genetic tests when deciding on insurance cover unless it is to the insured’s advantage and undertook to be transparent when they do use that data. Some compact is going to be necessary between insurers and regulators.
A balance will have to be found in order to keep the principles of insurance alive without any unfair discrimination. If a balance is not found, compulsory pooling of risks may be the result in relation to certain kinds of insurance which will undermine the social value of insurance and its role in the economy.
Likes and dislikes is the stuff of discrimination, so we need to find ways of balancing the ways that we deal with other people, not the least in the world of insurance.
*Patrick Bracher is from Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa

How insurers are using your social media profile to spy on you

Access to electricity is key to Africa’s future. It is the springboard to increased prosperity and a better quality of life. Without it, children struggle to study, ideas won’t be transformed into thriving businesses and the continent will never completely plug into the global economy.
But as many as seven in ten Africans can’t depend on reliable power. This is a huge brake, both on their ambitions and the continent’s development. Unless we can overcome this energy deficit, Africa’s economic and social progress will be crippled.
The scale of the challenge is clear. Only 60 per cent of properties in sub-Saharan Africa are connected to an electricity grid. Rural areas, in particular, find themselves cut off from power.
Millions of Africans know, connection itself is by no means a guarantee of reliable supply. Blackouts are a fact of everyday life across much of the continent.
		
				
		
In Ghana, Afrobarometer found that, while 87 per cent of homes are connected to a grid, less than half enjoyed reliable power. The African Development Bank discovered that manufacturers lose an average of 56 days a year of production because of power shortages.
And when energy does arrive, the price can be three times more than consumers pay in other regions – even in those countries with similar levels of economic development. When businesses or families have to rely on diesel-based generators, costs can be even higher.
With Africa’s population forecast to double to 2.4 billion by 2050, the continent is set to make up nearly a quarter of the global workforce. Managing the mismatch between power supply and demand requires urgent action. This is why providing the power Africa needs ranks among the most important global challenges.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M-WdM2SCWXM" width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Africa does not lack energy resources. The continent has vast fossil fuel reserves, and will be powered by renewable energy in the longer term. Its climate in large parts provides ideal conditions for solar and wind power generation. Only a fraction of Africa’s hydroelectric and geothermal potential has yet been exploited.
Innovation, investment and partnerships are needed to harness this rich energy potential, and ensure the continent’s communities and businesses can prosper.
Since 2000, investment in sub-Saharan African energy supply has more than doubled. But it is still nowhere near enough to meet the shortfall in generation capacity and, critically, to put in place the infrastructure to get electricity to the entire continent.
Official estimates show that sub-Saharan Africa will need $450 billion in power sector investment within the next 20-30 years. Most of this will have to come from outside our continent.
This is why partnerships are so critical to overcoming Africa’s energy challenge. We need the courage to forge new partnerships and show investors the rewards of working with African governments and companies, to drive growth within the continent. In turn, governments will have to work hard to provide the stable conditions to attract investment.
We also need to take a regional view. One successful example is the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). SAPP connects 12 countries across the region. This means that power coming from a new gas-powered plant in north-east Mozambique won’t just help get electricity to the 70 per cent of the population in that country without access. It also offers the possibility of sending it to places it is needed, such as Malawi or Zambia.
Just as we have adapted mobile technology to leapfrog the need for fixed phone networks, Africa can also lead the world in innovative energy solutions.
These solutions must also be combined with initiatives tailored to local conditions and communities, using the resources available in those places. In some areas, small-scale solar power combined with biomass technology can meet the needs of rural villages without expensive power lines having to be put in place.
Solutions must also be affordable for the consumer. For example, replacing charcoal with more affordable and environmental friendly briquettes saves consumers money, as well as the environment. Great Lakes Africa Energy is take a lead in such initiatives.
Tackling Africa’s energy deficit must be a priority for the continent. But it should also be high on the global agenda. Providing access to reliable and affordable energy is key to Africa’s prosperity. And a prosperous Africa is key to a strong global economy in the decades ahead.
*Humphrey Kariuki is Chairman of Great Lakes Africa Energy and the Dalbit Group

Op-ed: Tackling Africa’s energy deficit must be a priority for the continent

Deforestation remains a persistent environmental challenge in Africa. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that between 2010 to 2015 alone, the continent experienced a net loss of around 17 million hectares of forests. To put this in perspective, this is equivalent to more than 1.3 times the total land size of England. It is also a major driver of carbon emissions.
A narrative has developed that suggests there is a trade-off between sustainable land use and local economic growth, and particularly in low-income countries, it is clear which one will prevail. However the current debate is dominated by anecdotes rather than compelling, broad-based evidence. The challenge in conducting this analysis is that in many of these forest-frontier regions, economic data is often absent or not particularly robust. In addition, there are issues with the lack of a sufficiently long time series to understand impact or a control group to measure progress against.
A recent study conducted to explore the available evidence and identify innovative approaches for reconciling competing social, economic and environmental objectives challenges the view that a trade-off between local prosperity and environmental outcomes is inevitable. In fact, in a number of African countries, a range of sustainable land use initiatives have deployed (ranging from smallholder yield improve to land degradation prevention) that have boosted local incomes while protecting the environment. The real question is whether these can be scaled up to a meaningful level? There is no point in having an oasis of green in a desert of deforestation. This is where jurisdictional programs hold great potential. Jurisdictional programs are sustainable development programs that take place at a scale that matches the administrative boundaries of sub-national or national governments (Exhibit 1).
Exhibit 1
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-122439" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Exhibit1.jpg" alt="" width="1365" height="1024" />
Liberia is one such example. The West African country is at a critical juncture in its economic and environmental development. Deforestation has been increasing and the total tree cover loss between 2001-2014 was over 711,000 hectares. The country has also earmarked over 930,000 hectares of land for palm oil cultivation.  Managed poorly, the environmental consequences could be detrimental to one of the continent’s biodiversity hotspots. In response, Liberia has developed a national-level jurisdictional program, which aims to reduce deforestation, create verified deforestation-free commodity producing areas, and also support local prosperity.
EXHIBIT 2
 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-122440" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Exhibit2.jpg" alt="" width="1365" height="1024" />
&nbsp;
Liberia’s jurisdictional program is still in its infancy, but holds great promise (Exhibit 2). The study has identified several challenges in Liberia that will need overcoming, which are similar to other jurisdictions examined .
<ol>
<li>Aligning incentives: while jurisdictional governments have committed to sustainable development pledges, communication, consensus building, and resilience to stay the course can be challenging. In Liberia, a particular challenge is encouraging local communities to participate in conservation efforts.</li>
<li>Developing operational frameworks: that can clearly translate sustainable land use goals into practice.</li>
<li>Implementation: particularly in regards to land use planning and resolving conflicting land right claims.</li>
</ol>
Despite these challenges there are programmes that are being implementing, showcasing different approaches and strength of multistakeholder partnerships.
<ul>
<li>Liberia Forest Sector Project. The World Bank implemented this programme in April 2016. It aims to support the government’s efforts to manage and improve the forest sector and protects nearly 1.5 million hectares of the country’s remaining natural forest.<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">[i]</a> Initiatives from the programme include:
<ul>
<li>Forest investment project. The project aims to strengthen regulatory and institutional systems to improve the management of forest landscapes and complete the process of legal reform and enforcement. It will also enhance the landscape management of protected areas and community managed forests. Other components of the project include the operationalization of a measurement and reporting system for forests and emissions reductions, reference level development, and an information system for safeguards.</li>
<li>Rubber production through private-sector partnership. This project provides financing to smallholder farmers to replant and renovate ageing rubber plantations and adopt sustainable agronomic practices (see the “Environmental Benefits” section of this chapter).</li>
<li>Payments for verified emissions. This project provides financial payments for successful implementation of activities that lead to measured, reported and verified emissions reductions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Africa Palm Oil Initiative in Liberia. The APOI brings together TFA 2020 partners and collaborators within governments, companies, civil society, and indigenous and local communities to prioritize sustainable palm oil development in Africa. The goal of APOI is to develop and support the implementation of a set of regional principles for responsible palm oil development that accounts for the ambitious development plans of countries in Africa. This approach aims to balance forest conservation, community development and commercial interests while supporting the protection of high forest cover landscapes. Specific to Liberia, APOI has conducted national workshops on Liberia’s to develop actions plan for sustainable palm oil production and is working on an implementation framework to guide the expansion of sustainable palm oil cultivation in the country.</li>
<li>Smallholder productivity and forest protection programme. NICFI and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) are supporting a programme to achieve forest conservation in commercially productive landscapes in Liberia. The programme aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, increase prosperity and create verified deforestation-free commodity producing landscapes. Partners in the programme include the Government of Liberia, ArcelorMittal (mining), Sime Darby (oil palm and rubber), GVL (oil palm), local communities and civil society. The initiative, which began in March 2016, also endeavours to pioneer an investment model where investments in agricultural intensification are tied to forest conservation goals. Core activities of the programme include developing land use plans consistent with commercial and conservation goals; signing protection agreements that commit participants to sustainably produced commodities; enabling investments in outgrowers (which are financially risky); and enforcing forest conservation policies.<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">[ii]</a></li>
</ul>
The success of these efforts depends greatly on the multistakholder approach. Liberia, and other African countries, are on the road to act as leading examples of how environmental preservation and economic prosperity can go hand in hand.
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">[i]</a> Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), “The Liberia Forest Program”, 2015.
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">[ii]</a> IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, Green Growth: Achieving forest conservation in commercially productive landscapes in Indonesia, Liberia and Brazil, 2015.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF as part of our collaboration.

Op-ed: Over 5 years Africa has lost forests the size of England, this is how to create a trade-off

“Du-u-u-ck!” we’d yell out to warn those further down the bus roof each time another electrical wire came dangerously close to our heads. Seconds later, the slogans would resume again, “Sundarban amar ma / ujar hote debo na!”.
Sundarban is my mother / won’t tolerate her smother!
As the exuberant cavalcade headed towards the Sundarbans mangrove forest in southwest Bangladesh, in town after town our youthful uproars made roadside observers curious, and they read our fliers describing the dangers of the massive Rampal coal-plant being built beside the forest. The three-day ‘long march’ concluded with a fiery speech by renowned economist and organizer Anu Muhammad to rally local communities near the Sundarbans. His leadership was instrumental in making the march, and the broader resistance, a powerful force.
Wherever you look, such age-diverse partnerships are at the frontlines of the climate struggle. Levi and Ridhima are only 9, but half a world apart, they are respectively taking the governments of the US and India to court for climate inaction, sparking what could develop into historic legal rulings. They couldn’t have done it alone — climate scientist James Hansen and Ridhima’s activist father have been crucial architects.
And just this week, the People’s Climate Mobilization marking President Trump’s 100 days in office is a bold statement against the administration’s dangerous denialism. It builds on marches in 2014 and 2015 that brought a combined 1.5 million people on the streets in over 2,000 cities worldwide, thanks largely to agile coordination by organizations like 350.org. 350 started when author-turned-activist Bill McKibben co-founded it with some of his students from Middlebury College. A youthful staff base has enabled such organizations to leverage the Internet to mobilize people more effectively and build power.
The examples above demonstrate three key ways that young people can and are speeding up the response to climate change. The young plaintiffs bring to light a profound moral clarity by highlighting the intergenerational injustice of society’s inaction on climate change. From the streets of Bangladesh to the halls of power at Paris COP21, youth have channeled that moral clarity with disruptive energy to challenge the status quo and expand the boundaries of dry political feasibilities. And finally, rising movements are employing youth who can drive digital innovation to exponentially improve coordination and generate greater impact.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
All three come together in the fossil fuel divestment movement, the fastest growing such movement in history. Sparked off by college students just six years ago, it has already galvanized over 5 trillion in dollars divested! The argument for divestment has a moral core: that endowments of educational institutions should not be used to sabotage their students’ futures. To highlight this, students have occupied president’s offices and disrupted the comfort of trustee boardrooms, forcing conversations that were unthinkable mere months ago. And they have been able to grow the movement rapidly by sharing knowledge and strategizing effectively with the help of digital technologies.
However, the youth struggle has a crushing limitation. Aside from rare exceptions, each dollar divested required a non-young decision-maker to make that final judgment, whether from a place of aligned values or under pressure. Youth are usually not in positions of power, or even offered a seat at the table of decision-making conversations.
And while youth have always played critical roles in driving conversations and values forward — such as the divestment movement against apartheid half a century ago — we still have to rely on incumbent authorities in boardrooms, parliaments, and public offices to unlock substantial progress.
Yet, the three dimensions discussed above empower youth with a compelling arsenal that can be leveraged to bypass this limitation by partnering with allies in positions of higher authority, and change the climate in which decisions around climate change are made, thereby steering the outcomes themselves.
The People’s Climate March 2014 right before the New York UN Climate Summit demonstrates this. An infusion of youthful organizing energy and smart digital strategy in the preceding months fueled a historic turnout of 400,000 filling the streets of Manhattan, making international headlines. The Heads of State speeches at the Summit made clear that after years of stagnation, country leaders realized there was a massive constituency on climate change. This invigorated the negotiations in pursuit of an ambitious deal in Paris in 2015.
I cried when the gavel finally came down on the Paris Agreement after a grueling two weeks. It was a tremendous, albeit overdue, achievement of multilateralism, and youth played a significant, though often overlooked role in the ecosystem. Since then, a heartbreaking political abandonment of basic science in several countries has cast a dark cloud over its fate. As the urgency grows, apparently the lunacy does too.
McKibben once said, “&#8230;as the planet runs its spiking fever, the antibodies are starting to kick in.” I think this metaphor captures the role of youth well. The combination of moral outrage, courage to disrupt, and organizing tech-savviness places youth in an important nexus at a time when political authorities are failing to curb the fever. You can count on youth to put our bodies on the line to stop every coal plant to bend down the emissions curve if we have to.
But while antibodies are vital in times of war, they are not sufficient to hold peace. Perhaps the defining role today’s youth can play is to grow into a generation of wise decision-makers who take to heart the Iroquois wisdom to deeply respect the consequences of our actions seven generations into the future.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF Africa. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017

Op-ed: Youth are the antibodies defending our feverish mother earth

&nbsp;
Over 100 years ago, Napoleon reportedly said of China: “Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.”
In light of China’s rapid economic growth in the 21st century, the French general’s view seems justified. Although it still has deep developmental gaps, China has made rapid progress to become the world’s second largest economy as well as the world’s workshop – filling every corner of the globe with an amazing range of products.
A striking fact that is often overlooked in this transformation is that, in attaining this new status, China had to overcome an ugly reputation as the origin of substandard manufactured products. A decade ago, Made in China was to many people a signature of dubious quality. Fast-forward to today and it means pretty much the opposite. There can’t be many people today who will argue that China has not woken up.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
Half the world away, in West Africa, there is a country not very dissimilar to China. Demographically, China’s population represents approximately one-fifth of the world’s population. Similarly, Nigeria is sometimes referred to as Africa’s China, because with a population of over 180 million, Nigeria’s population alone accounts for almost one-sixth of Africa’s population of 1.2 billion. Nigeria, like China, also suffers deep developmental challenges, with over 62% of the population living in poverty.
The rise of Nigeria&#8217;s Yahoo boys 
An important demographic for Nigeria is young people, who represent a huge chunk of the population, with over 40% of Nigerians under the age of 14. These young Nigerians have borne the brunt of the country’s economic and development woes, with youth unemployment estimated at 45% by the National Bureau of Statistics. Some Nigerian youths have responded to this economic pressure by resorting to crime, and particularly the sort of crime that has given the country a bad reputation globally: cybercrime.
Unlike China, which has largely shrugged off the reputation of being the producer of substandard goods, Nigeria has gained a reputation for being the haven of online fraudsters, or what are known colloquially as Yahoo boys.
However, the same technology that enables cybercrime in Nigeria is also the very tool that can transform the lives of millions of young people in the country. What erring youth need to know is that if they’re tech-savvy enough to defraud, then they’re smart enough to build a business online, or even develop apps.
A new digital future 
I am no stranger to how technology changes lives, having positively changed my own career path thanks to an opportunity to learn how to use computers, and rare (at the time) access to the internet, which exposed me to career options no teacher could have suggested. This new knowledge empowered me to improve my life and build a social enterprise that is now connecting other young people to digital opportunities. Through the Paradigm Initiative, I tell them they can use technology to improve their chances in life, without any ill motives.
The evidence suggests they are listening. One young man, One Martins, has created an app that helps young people stay away from age-inappropriate online content. Through a voice recognition algorithm, it can detect the age of online visitors and shield vulnerable age groups. Then there’s Brenda, whose app, MobiCheck, allows patients to access medical information in real time. They’re not alone: there are many other stories of young people from underserved communities in Nigeria, whose lives have been transformed by a mastery of ICT tools.
I believe that, like China over a hundred years ago, there is greatness lying dormant in the lives of millions of Nigerians. They just need digital technology to come and unlock it.
&#8216;Gbenga Sesan is one among the 100 Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurs attending the Solutions Summit, the first event in almost a decade to convene so many exceptional change-makers of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship from around the world. Hosted in partnership with the Motsepe Foundation and taking place in Durban, South Africa on 1-3 May just ahead of the World Economic Forum on Africa 2017, the programme looks at proven models for social impact to accelerate change across countries and sectors.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF Africa. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017

Op-ed: Forget internet scams: young Nigerians now use digital tech for good   

Africa is no stranger to the devastation that outbreaks of infectious disease can unleash – human, social and economic. The Ebola outbreak that began in 2014 killed over 11,000 people in West Africa and caused an estimated economic loss of $2.2 billion in the three worst-affected countries in 2015 alone. If we are to protect against future tragedy, we need to be better prepared.
One positive development to emerge from the tragedy of the Ebola outbreak was the global co-operation to fast-track a vaccine that has proved effective at protecting against the disease. This scientific success story – achieved in the most challenging of circumstances – proved that when we work together, we can overcome the many hurdles of producing safe, effective vaccines. But the collaborative effort that resulted in a successful Ebola vaccine, though admirable, did not begin until after the epidemic had spiralled out of control and thus came far too late. Had there been a proven vaccine ready at the beginning of the outbreak, many thousands of lives would have been saved.
It’s only a matter of time before the next deadly epidemic strikes. In order to prevent another catastrophe on the scale of Ebola, Africa should capitalise on the current momentum to nurture innovation and build its capacity to detect, respond to and contain infectious disease outbreaks.
There are many other infectious diseases that we know have the potential to cause a major epidemic across the African continent, and around the world. Like Ebola, many of the infectious diseases that pose the biggest threat to society could be prevented with vaccines. But those vaccines don’t exist, often because of the limited market potential for such products. As a result, the global R&amp;D community has not consistently translated promising scientific research into proven medical products, ready for use.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
It was for this reason that the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was set up. Founded by the governments of India and Norway, plus the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and WEF, CEPI provides an entirely new way of financing and coordinating the development, manufacture and testing of vaccines against epidemic threats &#8211; vaccines that otherwise wouldn’t get made.
CEPI seeks to build much closer collaboration between governments, business and civil society. To achieve its goals, it will require sustainable long-term funding. When it launched in Davos earlier this year, it had already raised over $540 million of initial investment from international governments and philanthropy. But it needs more &#8211; at least $1bn &#8211; to deliver what it has promised to in its first five years.
CEPI’s initial focus is to move new vaccines through development and early human testing, so that we have a range of candidates, tested and ready to be used early when an outbreak strikes. It will also develop new technologies to enable rapid vaccine development against, as yet unknown, deadly pathogens. Crucially, the vaccines that emerge from the CEPI process will be accessible and affordable to those populations in greatest need.
African nations stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries of these vaccines. Tropical climates are home to far denser and more varied populations of pathogens, and with increasing ecological pressure and denser urbanisation, these infections have the potential to spread and travel like never before. Three of the four viruses CEPI will target initially for vaccine development – Ebola, Nipah virus, Lassa virus and MERS-CoV – are found in Africa. And of the 25 countries considered most vulnerable to an infectious disease epidemic, 22 are on the African continent.
Partnership from African governments is therefore crucial to CEPI’s success. Clinical trials of CEPI-funded vaccines will often need to be conducted in-country, during an outbreak, and CEPI must work to ensure that the necessary capacity to do so is in place in countries that are vulnerable.
In the longer-term, we hope partnership with CEPI will help countries to strengthen their own capacity for vaccine development and outbreak prevention by creating new partnerships and providing access to previously unavailable expertise. In short, engaging with CEPI will give African countries an insurance policy against future epidemics.
As with any insurance policy, all partner countries are being asked to help raise the funding that CEPI needs to fulfil its mission. However, we believe that these should be fair and proportionate to a nation’s financial means.
Epidemic preparedness requires more than just vaccines. They must also be accompanied by new treatments, diagnostic capabilities, better surveillance, greater regulatory capacity and improved public health infrastructure. After all, it was basic public health measures – quarantine, protective clothing and handwashing &#8211; that eventually brought the Ebola epidemic under control. CEPI will also work towards just such a holistic approach, establishing partnerships and financing where needed.
But vaccines have a powerful role to play, and by getting involved at this stage, African partners can be an integral part of building the resilience to epidemics and pandemics that will protect the populations of the future.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF Africa. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017

Op-ed: Africa needs an insurance policy against future epidemics

DURBAN, South Africa, May 4, 2017—Without urgent action to address stagnating levels of competitiveness, Africa’s economies will not create enough jobs for the young people entering the job market, according to a report released today. If current policies remain unchanged, fewer than one-quarter of the 450 million new jobs needed in Africa in the next 20 years will be created.
These are among the key findings of the Africa Competitiveness Report 2017, a biennial publication jointly produced by the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank, and the World Bank Group.
Priorities to meet the changing demographics include policy reforms to improve the quality of institutions, infrastructure, skills and adoption of new technology. House construction and better urban planning present opportunities for short-term competitiveness gains.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
The report finds that the ability of Africa’s economies to generate enough jobs for its young and growing population rests on the successful implementation of urgent reforms to boost productivity. Competitiveness is defined as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity—and hence future prosperity—of a country. The report, which covers North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, comes at a time when growth in most of the region’s economies has been slowing after a decade of sustained growth. Further stagnation is likely in the absence of improvements in the core conditions for competitiveness.
Compounding the challenge to Africa’s leaders is a rapidly expanding population, which is expected to add 450 million more to the labor force over the next two decades. Under current policies, only 100 million new jobs would be created during this period, according to the report.
Africa’s young, dynamic population does, however, possess the potential to lead an economic revival in the region backed by targeted short- and long-term reforms in key areas, the report finds. Priority action areas for improved competitiveness are:
Short term:
<ul>
<li>Prioritizing sector-specific reforms in labor-intensive sectors such as agribusiness, construction, and micro-enterprises can stimulate near-term job creation.</li>
<li>Targeted support can address acute economic issues for vulnerable regions and populations in fragile countries.</li>
<li>Open trade policies can help foster regional economic integration.</li>
<li>Developing value chain links to extractive sectors will encourage economic diversification in resource-rich countries.</li>
<li>Increased housing construction through investment, better urban planning, and less red tape will create jobs and address severe shortages of housing stock.</li>
</ul>
Long term:
<ul>
<li>Strengthening institutions is a pre-condition to enable faster and more effective policy implementation. Failure of implementation in the past has often been attributed to weak institutions.</li>
<li>Improved infrastructure is needed to enable greater levels of trade and foster businesses growth.</li>
<li>Greater adoption of technology will be critical to boosting lagging productivity.</li>
<li>Developing the right skills will help Africa remain competitive in a rapidly changing global economic landscape.</li>
</ul>
“Removing the hurdles that prevent Africa from fulfilling its competitiveness potential is the first step required to achieve more sustained economic progress and shared prosperity,” said the World Economic Forum’s Richard Samans, Managing Director Centre for the Global Agenda.
“To meet the aspirations of their growing youth populations, African governments are well advised to enact polices that improve levels of productivity and the business environment for trade and investment,” said the World Bank Group’s Klaus Tilmes, Director of the Trade &amp; Competitiveness Global Practice, which contributed to the report. “The World Bank Group is helping governments and the private sector across Africa take the steps necessary to build strong economies and accelerate job creation in order to benefit from the potential demographic dividend.”
“African cities have to update their urban plans, taking into account demographic and economic developments in the last decades. This is crucial to address the shortage of urban infrastructure and availability of land for residential housing. This is important as a massive investment is needed for the continent to lower the housing backlog, thereby improving the lives of urban residents, and to create employment for the youth,” said African Development Bank’s Abebe Shimeles, Acting Director of Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Department. “In its new business delivery model, the Bank has created a unit to specifically focus on cities and urban infrastructure.”
The Africa Competitiveness Report combines data from the Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) with studies on employment policies and city competitiveness. Also included in the report are detailed competitiveness profiles of 35 African economies. The profiles provide a comprehensive summary of the drivers of competitiveness in each of the countries covered by the report, and are used by policy-makers, business strategists and other key stakeholders, as well as those with an interest in the region.
Click here to read the <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/733321493793700840/The-Africa-competitiveness-report-2017-Addressing-Africa-s-demographic-dividend">full report</a>.

Africa needs to take urgent action to harness its youth dividend

In 1624, the English poet John Donne wrote the famous line: “No man is an island.” His verse conveys the message that no one is self-sufficient; we all rely on others.
As we enter the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/">Fourth Industrial Revolution</a>, in which advanced manufacturing and the convergence of new technologies hold the key to economic success – or failure, these words have never seemed so prescient.
A world in flux
The opportunities presented by emerging technology breakthroughs are vast. They have the potential, when combined and connected, to transform our manufacturing and production systems, entire business models, our economic outlook, the future of employment and even our stewardship of the world around us.
The key lies in the words “combined” and “connected”: more than at any other time in our industrial history, deep collaboration across our civic, organizational and national boundaries is needed to unlock the true value that these new production systems offer.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017 
</a> 
Unfortunately, the failure to date to combine and connect is having very real consequences. Certain groups and regions within countries feel the global free market system is working against their interests and they are turning to political leaders peddling a return to nationalism and protectionist policies—an “<a href="https://www.atkearney.com/gbpc/thought-leadership/detail/-/asset_publisher/03JmqNRaRZj7/content/from-globalization-to-islandization/10192">islandization</a>” of what was globalization.
On top of the real and perceived political consequences of inequality within key markets, our era is characterized by growing volatility, unpredictability, and geopolitical tensions. This swing towards divergent economic approaches has slowed cross-border movement of goods, services, capital and people.
Another influencing factor is the extent to which economies around the globe have been able to industrialize. Those that have had the capacity to translate scientific discovery into technological innovation are arguably going to be quicker off the starting blocks. Others may find themselves having to look for opportunities to bypass traditional routes to development.
Clearly, different countries and regions will need their own unique strategies to take advantage of this new future of production in an increasingly “islandized” world – that is, one less friendly to global trade, and far less favourable to new entrants on the global stage. One of the most interesting examples is Africa.
The outlook for Africa
As a collection of disparate economies, and with mixed experience in manufacturing, Africa largely missed out on the opportunities afforded by globalization. Today, it is starting to gain ground and has a selection of success stories, notably in Mauritius, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
There are also encouraging <a href="https://www.odi.org/comment/10382-why-african-manufacturing-doing-better-you-think">signs of growth</a> for the continent as a whole. Manufacturing in Africa – although having declined as a share of GDP in most individual countries – is actually growing in absolute terms. Between 2005 and 2014, production more than doubled from $73 billion to $157 billion. Additionally, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been increasing, while direct investment from one African country to another is now a significant source of FDI.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
However, Africa’s total share of global manufacturing exports remains at less than 1%. Moreover, together with Latin America, it holds less than 8% of the market in the big five new production technologies (the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, 3D printing and enterprise wearables).
Geographic adoption of technologies
As I wrote <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/how-can-african-manufacturing-achieve-its-full-potential/">last year</a>, population growth and the associated need to create jobs mean that Africa has no alternative but to continue to develop a strong, value-added manufacturing base. In addition, increasing consumption – driven by a rising middle class – presents another argument for industrialization.
Two windows of opportunity
For Africa, the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the trend of “islandization” both offer opportunities to catch or even leapfrog its global competitors through the use of innovative approaches to industrialization.
Firstly, new technologies are undoubtedly <a href="https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/technology-and-innovation-for-the-future-of-production-accelerating-value-creation">improving the economics of local production systems</a>, enabling developing communities to become more self-sufficient. Local production also reduces the need for costly, long-distance transportation, which has long impeded Africa’s ability to compete. Meanwhile, as costs rise in China and other economies start to move up the value chain, Africa could emerge as an alternative source of light manufacturing. Along with an improving business environment, the Fourth Industrial Revolution could potentially provide Africa with a launchpad to accelerate its industrial development.
“Islandization” might seem an unlikely opportunity, but, while undoubtedly problematic from a rational economics perspective, the trend does not foreclose Africa’s right to rise economically. On the contrary, it offers an additional blueprint for future success. With the other major players setting up their own “islandized” economies, Africa could seize the opportunity to do the same, in an inspired way. By viewing its own market bloc as the end consumer base for production, Africa has the ability to grow its global competitiveness. If enacted, the African Union’s proposed Continental Free Trade Area could double intra-African trade from its 2012 level by 2022.
Of course, this is not to suggest that Africa should become protectionist or replace all foreign imports with domestic production; rather, the idea is to find ways to reduce its own internal barriers and create free trade across the continent. This would encourage inward-facing markets and the free movement of people and ideas, and establish value chains on the continent, while addressing longstanding infrastructure challenges.
If Africa can ride both of these trends, it will kick-start an industrial upswing, presenting an opportunity for the continent to emerge as an economic power in its own right.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF Africa. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017

Op ed: Embracing “islandization”: how an unlikely opportunity could help Africa achieve inclusive growth

After almost two decades of robust growth, there has been a sharp deceleration in economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lower commodity prices but also mounting imbalances in some of the region’s largest economies have taken average growth for the whole region down to 1.5% in 2016. A slight increase to around 2.5% is expected this year — markedly lower than the 5-6% of earlier years.
Sub-Saharan Africa: real GDP growth, 2016
		
				
		
The full picture is more complex: since 2014, oil exporters, including Nigeria and Angola, have experienced substantial declines in growth leading to large revenue losses and balance-of-payments pressures. Conditions in many other resource-intensive countries, including South Africa, have also remained difficult. At the same time, most countries that are not resource-intensive — such as Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya or Senegal — continue to grow robustly. But, even in these faster growing countries, vulnerabilities are building.
Sub-Saharan Africa: real GDP growth, 2000–14 vs. 2015–16
So how can the growth engine in Sub-Saharan African be restarted? In the spirit of the Ghanaian Akan Sankofa bird, we should draw on the past to chart the way forward.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
Looking back at the period from 1950–2016, Sub-Saharan African countries have not had any trouble getting growth going. Furthermore, since 2000, in contrast to other developing economies, countries in the region have experienced less volatile growth and fewer growth decelerations (“down-breaks”), while still enjoying numerous growth accelerations
(“up-breaks”).
Likewise, sustained periods of growth (“growth spells”) have been common in Sub-Saharan Africa. The region has recorded about 40 growth spells between 1950 and 2016 — a record that is in line with other regions. What’s more, growth spells in Sub-Saharan Africa became more frequent after 1995. This reflects improvements in the business and macroeconomic environment, increased trade integration, and a generally supportive global environment with high commodity prices and accommodating financial conditions. This good performance was spread throughout the region — in both resource-intensive countries and countries that are not resource-intensive — providing an opportunity to lift living conditions across the continent.
Sub-Saharan Africa: growth spells, 1960–94, and 1995–2016
Getting growth started is one thing, keeping it going is another. Our work shows that compared with other regions, growth spells tend to be shorter and more often end in a ‘hard landings’ with economies lapsing into recession. This result still holds after controlling for the incidence of armed and political conflicts.
To understand these findings, we looked into the factors that underpin durable and sustained growth episodes. We found that the key driving factors are a supportive external environment and the right economic policies and institutions. But how important are these factors and policies in prolonging growth spells? As it turns out, they matter a lot. Starting from the median value in Sub-Saharan Africa, an improvement in macroeconomic variables or institutions by 25 percentile points increases the typical length of a growth spell by one to eight years. Those additional years of growth provide significant opportunities to further raise living standards.
All in all, Sub-Saharan African countries are good at getting growth going; there have been many more growth spells of late; and sustaining growth requires getting domestic policy right. So, what concrete actions are needed at the current juncture?
<ul>
<li>In those countries where significant macroeconomic imbalances have emerged, the reform priorities are: reducing fiscal deficits through stronger domestic revenue mobilization; better prioritization of spending on key infrastructure projects and social protection; and, where the monetary regime allows for it, greater exchange rate flexibility to foster competition and economic diversification.</li>
<li>In countries where growth remains buoyant, it is important to avoid an unsustainable increase in public debt while they are still in a position of strength. Here too, greater revenue mobilization offers the best route to maintain fiscal space for the many development spending objectives countries have.</li>
<li>For all countries in the region, complementing macroeconomic policy reforms with reforms to unlock growth potential is critical. These efforts include: strengthening the macro-structural policies that support investment and economic diversification; facilitating the adoption of technology; and promoting openness and integration with the global economy.</li>
</ul>
Now is the time to take steps to adjust policies to ensure macro-stability so the region can move beyond its current rough patch and expedite growth in the medium-term.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF Africa. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017

Op-ed:  Drawing on the past to chart the future: how Sub-Saharan Africa can become a driver for economic growth once again

One of the key issues to be discussed at the <a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">World Economic Forum – Africa</a> gathering this week is the ongoing development of capital markets in Africa. This matter has been discussed over the last number of years and has gained importance as it is seen as a key source of future funding for the continent.
Following the global financial crisis, sub-Saharan African sovereigns capitalised on an era of low interest rates and the global search for yield, by issuing US$-denominated Eurobonds to international investors at attractive spreads. There are currently 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa which have issued Eurobonds, with a total market capitalisation of c.US$30bn. Eurobond issuance by sub-Saharan African peaked in 2014 amounting to US$8bn. The growth in this market provided benefits to sub-Saharan Africa in the form of increased diversification in funders and sources of funding. The increased focus by global investors on sub-Saharan Africa resulted in growing interest in the local capital markets as well, assisting in the further development of these markets.
During 2016, however, issuance declined to US$5bn, with South Africa accounting for US$4.25bn of the total issuance. Ghana was the only other entity in sub-Saharan Africa to issue a Eurobond in 2016, amounting to US$750m.
The decline in Eurobond issuance from sub-Saharan African sovereigns was driven mainly by reduced risk appetite from investors leading to rising yields, which made it less attractive for sovereigns to issue bonds. This was primarily as a result of low commodity prices, especially oil. This in turn resulted in weaker exchange rates which increased the costs to service the US$-denominated debt instruments. Further, liquidity shortages in foreign currency placed additional strain on sovereigns to service hard currency denominated obligations. Nigeria and Ivory Coast, were some of the sovereigns which delayed issuing Eurobonds during 2016.
Ghana was the first country to be impacted by the above events to the extent that it approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance in April 2015. The IMF provided 3-year emergency funding which is due to last until April 2018, however Ghana is currently in negotiations to extend the programme to at least December 2018. During January 2017, Mozambique became the first sub-Saharan African sovereign to default on its recently issued Eurobonds when it was unable to service the coupon payment on a bond which is guaranteed by the government. Mozambique is currently in negotiations with the IMF for financial assistance. Finally, Zambia has also been impacted by low copper prices and other challenges to its economy resulting in it approaching the IMF for final assistance, which is currently under negotiation.
Despite the problems experienced by certain sub-Saharan African sovereigns, there has been renewed interest in Eurobonds over recent months. Yields on bonds have reduced on the back of improved commodity prices and a renewed search for yield from global investors. Nigeria was the first sovereign to take advantage of the lower yields, issuing US$1bn in February 2017 and raising and additional US$500m in March 2017.
The latest yield summary of recently issued Eurobonds based in sub-Saharan Africa is detailed below:
<table width="616">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="103">Issuer</td>
<td width="103">S&amp;P Rating</td>
<td width="96">Term</td>
<td width="114">Maturity Date</td>
<td width="98">Yield @ Issue</td>
<td width="103">Current Yield</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="103">Nigeria</td>
<td width="103">B</td>
<td width="96">15 years</td>
<td width="114">February 2032</td>
<td width="98">7.875%</td>
<td width="103">6.85%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="103">Ghana</td>
<td width="103">B-</td>
<td width="96">6 years</td>
<td width="114">September 2022</td>
<td width="98">9.250%</td>
<td width="103">7.44%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="103">South Africa</td>
<td width="103">BB+</td>
<td width="96">12 years</td>
<td width="114">September 2028</td>
<td width="98">4.300%</td>
<td width="103">4.87%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
South African investors have the ability to earn attractive US$-denominated returns when investing in sub-Saharan African sovereign Eurobonds, especially when compared to the South African Eurobond. However, there are a number of factors to take into account when comparing the returns including liquidity in the instrument, the underlying credit quality of the sovereign and the ability of the sovereign to service US$-denominated debt.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
In most cases, the issuers of sovereign Eurobonds in sub-Saharan Africa remain economies which are highly exposed to commodity prices. This results in demand for investment into the capital market instruments currently in existence being cyclical and dependent on global investor sentiment. The development of sustainable local capital markets will require international investors to take a long-term view on the underlying economies. Until such time as these countries have successfully diversified away from a dependence on commodities it will remain challenging to attract the required level of investment into local capital markets.
&nbsp;

Op-ed: Are sovereign Eurobonds making a comeback in Africa?

Africa has enjoyed an enviable streak of strong economic growth. For the past 16 years, <a href="http://www.visa.co.za/za/en-us/aboutvisa/newsroom/pressreleases/uploads/Visa_Africa_Integration_index_2014.pdf">the region has maintained an average GDP growth rate of 5%</a>, which has outperformed the global average by about two percentage points per annum. But recent disruptions in global commodity prices and greater competition for global trade have made the outlook for future economic growth more uncertain.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
Electronic payments offer a highway to that future growth. A Visa-commissioned Moody’s Analytics study looked at the impact electronic payments have on economies around the world. The research found that in emerging markets between <a href="http://www.visa.co.za/za/en-us/aboutvisa/newsroom/pressreleases/uploads/Visa_Africa_Integration_index_2014.pdf">2011 and 2015 a 1% increase in card usage produced a $29 billion increase in consumption.</a> 
For Africa the potential is tremendous: according to the World Bank, roughly two-thirds of the adults on the continent remain unbanked and card penetration is low. By improving access to electronic payments and financial services in general, we will be able to play a part in helping more people contribute actively to robust, sustained economic growth, and improve their lives. It is an ambitious vision of the future. To fulfill it, we will need public-private partnerships, an open playing field and the ability to scale our investments. 
A team solution
Public-private partnerships can help societies move away from inefficient cash economies that also lack transparency. Not only that, they are fundamental in creating investor confidence. They demonstrate that governments are willing to invest as much as we are to make it successful and support the concept of shared value for sustainable growth. 
Benefits of openness
To take advantage of one of Africa’s great strengths — a young, tech-savvy, increasingly educated population (the Economist Intelligence Unit estimates that between 2010 and 2030 the continent will add 122 million people to its labour force) &#8211; we are encouraging technology development on open platforms. Yet it can be difficult to scale innovation in a continent of 54 countries and nearly 2,000 languages. Local governments, which willingly champion electronic payments because they see the benefit to their economies, also need to allow for a level playing field in which we can all operate equally. If Africa wishes to draw the eye of global investors away from other emerging markets, where returns might be more immediate, it must offer those investors stability and prudent governance. This means setting up non-discriminatory regulatory frameworks and making mobile data services affordable for more people.
Scaling from a keypad
The importance of the phone to financial inclusion cannot be overstated. Mobile, app-based banking has made more inroads in this area in the past 10 years than the 50 years of bank branches and plastic cards that preceded it. African consumers are now outgrowing the first generation of mobile-based, money transfer technology, and mVisa — a mobile app which allows consumers to scan, pay, and go — is there to meet these expanding needs. 
Using electronic retail payments allows money to cross borders and add scale. But electronic payments have an additional advantage: they generate data. Cash is data-less, which means that cash payments for, say, water, don’t establish a history for someone who reliably pays for water. But the good credit history that would show in a user’s electronic payments would enable a bank to make better lending decisions, decisions that multiply the effect of its investments. Simply put, a consumer paying her bill electronically builds up a credit history and, because she has a credit history.
Of course, we face the challenge of increasing the acceptance of digital payments. Developing meaningful levels of acceptance among merchants is tough in an economy of small businesses. In developing countries, <a href="http://www.dalberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Small-merchants-big-opportunity.pdf">180 million small merchants, many in rural areas, produce 4.5 billion daily interactions.</a> Yet more than half of those merchants do not have a bank account and do not use digital payments. At Visa we have seen that traditional approaches have not worked well, especially for SMEs, and even more so for those operating in rural communities.
This gap comes down to the issue of reliable infrastructure, awareness and education. In Rwanda, we embarked on a multi-year programme to help the country build a payment infrastructure from scratch, including connecting ATMs to the Visa network, building capacity in banks, offering mobile phone banking, and increasing merchant acceptance. A report by the non-profit Initiative for Global Development (IGD) found that the programme strengthened the local capacity for financial services and enhanced Rwanda’s appeal as an investment destination.
But our work doesn’t need to be on such a large scale to make an impact. When we ensure that people can pay electronically in the South African Post Office, it helps. When we open up electronic acceptance at the gas pump in Mozambique or in fuel stations in South Africa, that helps. We will continue to think about more ways to help. After our successful recent launch of mVisa in Kenya, we plan to launch it in Nigeria and other markets. Every little bit of infrastructure goes towards building more inclusive economies.
Africa’s global leadership in digitizing cash illustrates the region’s potential in the 21st century knowledge economy. Building public-private partnerships, supporting an open playing field and scaling in an economy consisting of dozens of countries are not small tasks, nor are they easy. But the rewards of revving up a regional economy with massive potential for growth, and creating efficiency that could better the lives of many, make tackling the challenges worth it — indeed, it is incumbent upon us.
This article was supplied to CNBC Africa by WEF Africa. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Op-ed: The road to Africa’s future growth is paved with electronic payments   

You don’t have to be long in any African city to feel the entrepreneurial energy on the streets. For those of us who grew up on the continent, it’s very much a fact of life. But for those visiting, perhaps for the first time, it can seem overwhelming.
There is no single reason, of course, for this bustle and energy. But a big part of it comes from the fact that Africa has the youngest population of any continent. On every street corner and in shops and offices in every neighbourhood, there are young entrepreneurs determined to make a living and build a business.
This demographic dividend could – and should – be a huge advantage for Africa. Six out of ten of our population are already under 24 and the proportion of young people is growing all the time.
By 2050, our continent will be home to nearly half a billion people who have either just entered or are about to enter the labour force. Their talent and enthusiasm can be the motor to accelerate Africa’s development.
Look at the way young Africans are adopting and adapting technology for their own use and to create new business opportunities. Lagos – a city I know very well – is an extraordinary hub of tech start-ups and similar centres are sprouting up across the continent.
We are seeing the same creativity in many other sectors including mass market consumer goods, financial services and health. In a continent which has not seen the large increases in GDP in recent years translated into new jobs, this should be a powerful driver of both development and employment.
But it has too often not had the impact it should with lack of finance among the major barriers which need to be overcome. Good ideas are being wasted because the money is not there to back them while successful start-ups are being starved of the resources they need to grow.
Small and medium-sized businesses, of course, complain in every continent – often with reason &#8211; about their difficulty in accessing finance. But African entrepreneurs have more reason than most to protest.
Why is this the case? In many parts of our continent, banking is not as well developed or mature. Lending risks can be more difficult to assess. Competition for available funding is greater, with governments, who are safer bets, also keen to borrow and effectively crowding out the private sector. When financing is available, interest rates are high.
It explains why there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from Africa’s entrepreneurs that only financial support from family and friends enabled them to succeed &#8211; no matter how good their idea or how well their young business was doing. The result is that, despite all this energy, African countries remain well down international league tables of entrepreneurial activity.
The difficulty of accessing capital is not the only reason for this poor showing. Entrepreneurs also suffer from a lack of wider support and training. The professional skills needed to help take a business to the next stage can be hard to find.
FOR MORE WEF AFRICA CONTENT READ:
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">WEF AFRICA 2017</a>
But other fast-developing regions such as India, where TPG does a great deal of work, have been more successful in creating the right environment for entrepreneurs to thrive.  The Indian government has launched actions plans to support entrepreneurs and provide subsidies, <a href="http://startupindia.gov.in/">Startup India</a> and <a href="http://digitalindia.gov.in/">Digital India</a> are just two examples.
The good news is that there is a widespread recognition in Africa of just how important it is to do more to harness the entrepreneurial spirit in our continent. African governments along with international institutions such as the African Development Bank and World Bank and NGOs all have initiatives in place.
There is also a big role for private equity to help fill the gap in funding. But if it is to have the impact needed the approach must be flexible, ready to back businesses of all sizes and across their entire life cycles. It has to think small as well as big and be focused on the long-term.
This is the approach, tailored to the needs of different African markets, at the heart of the partnerships being forged through TPG Growth’s investment activities in Africa. These investment vehicles allow us to spend capital effectively at whatever level needed and build long-term relationships so we can provide not only funding but also wider support.
It is an approach which helped TPG play a big part in supporting the entrepreneurial- led tech revolution on the US West Coast. We build our reputation in backing small companies which have gone on to become big names.
It is a long way from California to Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi. But what they share is the strength of the entrepreneurial spirit. The challenge is to help Africa’s army of young entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses not just in their city, country or continent but, in time, across the world.
*<a href="https://www.tpg.com/team/who-we-are?title=Yemi+Lalude">Yemi Lalude</a> is the managing partner of TPG Africa and of the TPG/Satya partnership. He is Nigerian and was the founding partner of Adlevo Capital previously. This is his first op-ed.
WEF Africa is currently taking place in Durban. Watch our coverage from 3-5 May 2017

Op-ed: Africa’s start-ups are booming but more needs to be done

&nbsp;
The second day of the <a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/world-economic-forum/wef-africa-2017/">World Economic Forum in Durban</a> began with the sight of 93-year-old Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe shuffling on to the world stage for the umpteenth time, in his 37 years of power, to pronounce and provoke, on a stage shared with a Hollywood film star, with harsh words about Islamic States.
Mugabe was a panellist on a debate about fragile states in the main hall at the International Convention Centre that included diverse voices from former AFDB head Donald Kaberuka to Hollywood actor Forest Whittaker. The first question went to Mugabe about whether he thought Zimbabwe, with its economic troubles, is a fragile state.
&#8220;We are not a poor country, you can&#8217;t call us a fragile state, you can call America a fragile state,&#8221; says Mugabe to chuckles from the hundreds in the audience.
Mugabe pointed to his country&#8217;s vast resources, 14 universities and 90 per cent literacy rate. He believed conflict in his country was mainly down to rival political groups, but had sharp words for Islamic states.
&#8220;If you look into the Islamic world and talk about ISIS, and various other groups, it will appear the belief is the more violence you inflict on the population the greater the people will listen to you and join your side. That is a dangerous one and I do not know how it will be remedied.&#8221;
Greater truth to political power came from the youngest member of the panel Victor Ocho  -an activist from Uganda who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and grew up in the violence in the north of his country. He told Forbes Africa he was once so angry about the violence he stoned soldiers with tears in his eyes.
&#8220;When young people complain it is called a protest. When leaders speak it is called an excuse,&#8221; he says.
&#8220;Every year hundreds of Africans die in the Mediterranean Sea trying to escape Africa. Why to do they leave what is wrong ? It is because of the lack of integrity of power.&#8221;
Whittaker told how he was working in camps in South Sudan to try to get former child soldiers to put down the gun.
&#8220;We are working hard with the help of sports programmes to empower the young and we are getting positive results,&#8221; he says.

Monique Vanek

Op-ed: Africa’s future hangs in the balance – we dare not fail

Op-ed: Africa Falling, a letter from America

The future of the professions

The chartered accountant of the future

How insurers are using your social media profile to spy on you

Op-ed: Tackling Africa’s energy deficit must be a priority for the continent

Op-ed: Over 5 years Africa has lost forests the size of England, this is how to create a trade-off

Op-ed: Youth are the antibodies defending our feverish mother earth

Op-ed: Forget internet scams: young Nigerians now use digital tech for good

Op-ed: Africa needs an insurance policy against future epidemics

Africa needs to take urgent action to harness its youth dividend

Op ed: Embracing “islandization”: how an unlikely opportunity could help Africa achieve inclusive growth

Op-ed: Drawing on the past to chart the future: how Sub-Saharan Africa can become a driver for economic growth once again

Op-ed: Are sovereign Eurobonds making a comeback in Africa?

Op-ed: The road to Africa’s future growth is paved with electronic payments

Op-ed: Africa’s start-ups are booming but more needs to be done

Zimbabwe is not a fragile state: President Mugabe

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Monique Vanek

Op-ed: Africa’s future hangs in the balance – we dare not fail

Op-ed: Africa Falling, a letter from America

The future of the professions

The chartered accountant of the future

How insurers are using your social media profile to spy on you

Op-ed: Tackling Africa’s energy deficit must be a priority for the continent

Op-ed: Over 5 years Africa has lost forests the size of England, this is how to create a trade-off

Op-ed: Youth are the antibodies defending our feverish mother earth

Op-ed: Forget internet scams: young Nigerians now use digital tech for good

Op-ed: Africa needs an insurance policy against future epidemics

Africa needs to take urgent action to harness its youth dividend

Op ed: Embracing “islandization”: how an unlikely opportunity could help Africa achieve inclusive growth

Op-ed: Drawing on the past to chart the future: how Sub-Saharan Africa can become a driver for economic growth once again

Op-ed: Are sovereign Eurobonds making a comeback in Africa?

Op-ed: The road to Africa’s future growth is paved with electronic payments

Op-ed: Africa’s start-ups are booming but more needs to be done

Zimbabwe is not a fragile state: President Mugabe

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters